1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular pillar cover and, more particularly, to a vehicular pillar cover which is drastically improved in a performance for absorbing and damping an impact.
2. Description of Related Art
The vehicular pillar cover is constructed to keep the beauty of the inside of a vehicular compartment and to absorb and damp such an impact by an elastic deformation as might otherwise be received a portion (e.g., head) of the body of a passenger from the vehicular body when the vehicle makes a collision, for example.
As shown in FIG. 7, a vehicular pillar cover 11 of the prior art is equipped, in a body 12 having a generally C-shaped section, with a longitudinal rib 13 extending longitudinally of the general center and a plurality of transverse ribs 14 intersecting the longitudinal rib 13 generally at a right angle and integrally jointed to the side wall portions 12a and 12b of the body 12.
In the vehicular pillar cover thus constructed, however, the longitudinal rib 13 and the transverse ribs 14 intersect, and the transverse ribs 14 are integrally jointed to the side wall portions of the body 12. As a result, the vehicular pillar cover will hardly elastically deform, even when it receives an impact, so that its ability to absorb and damp the impact is limited of itself. For example, the head injury code HIC (d), as specified in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (USA) FMVSS 201, cannot be reduced to less than 1,000.